Musculoskeletal symptoms due to technical preconditions in long cycle time work in an automobile assembly plant: a study of prevalence and relation to psychosocial factors and physical exposure

摘要

The aim was to evaluate the prevailing ergonomic conditions in a parallelized flow, long cycle time, assembly system. The evaluation focused on physical exposure, psychosocial factors and work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. A random sample of67 assembly operators was included in a cross-sectional study mainly based on questionnaires. Hand/wrist symptoms were common and related to work exposure with hand-held powered tools. In general, the self-reported physical exposure showed only a fewsignificant associations with musculoskeletal symptoms. This may in part be explained by the ergonomic conditions generally being good, with a relatively low duration of 'combined' extreme work postures. Significant associations were found between thepsychosocial work environment and musculoskeletal symptoms.